94 ANNUAL REPORT 



have not noticed any of their work on this side of the river ; while 

 on the south side for a mile up and down, they are ruining the 

 crops of berries. * * * * ^ gentleman of the 



name of Kimball, at Prophetstown, had his crop a few years ago 

 entirely destroyed by this insect, though it amounted in all to two 

 or three acres. I hear of a great many men m other places hav- 

 ing their crops burnt up with the sun, and have no doubt 

 that it was this leaf roller and not the sun that was the author of 

 the damage. As for myself I have on this account entirely quit 

 the business of growing strawberries." 



Prof. Riley, in the report above alluded to, suggested no means* 

 of destroying the leaf roller except to plow up the infested fields 

 in the spring or fall so as I o bury them while in the pupae state. 

 There are, however, one or two days in its existence when the 

 worm lies exposed on the u; per side of the leaf, and it is possible 

 that it may then be destroyed by the application of pyrethrum or 

 some other insecticide, but after the two sides of the leaf come 

 together, the worm lies in there as secure from the application of 

 powders or liquids as a soldier from shells in his bomb-proof dug 

 in the ground. 



In searching for the insect, when it arrives upon your grounds, 

 you will first discover three or four white web-like bars at the base 

 of the leaf on the upper side, stretching across the stem. Look 

 closer and you will see a slim, light green worm from a twentieth to 

 a sixteenth of an inch long lying close beside the stem under the 

 white bars. Upon the least disturbance the worm wriggles away 

 and disappears on the ground. Next day, if not destroyed, he will 

 show you a further specimen of his handiwork. He goes on spin- 

 ning the bars and pulling the sides of the leaf together, and in 

 a short time they are seen flatly closed and pasted impervi- 

 ously from base to tip. I have not held a watch on this insect or 

 obtained his time table, but he goes on feeding upon the leaf till 

 his appointed time for changing to the pupae state, when he grows 

 rigid in iorm, eats his way through the leaf, goes into the ground 

 or under rubbish and re-appears as a night flying moth to deposit 

 new eggs, to hatch into new worms, to fold and eat more straw 

 berries, and so on. 



Prof, Riley says there are two broods, one in June, the other m 

 September; but mine were constant in their operations from 

 spring till fall. 



It IS well to try the insecticides, but from seme applications of 

 strong medicines that I made last fall I am afraid that in the straw- 



